Adjustable display rack



1931- w. L. CALKINS. JR

ADJUSTABLE DISPLAY RACK Filed May 13. 1929 Patented Oct. 20, 1931 Lama M chandise.

tomanufacture. p I p A i gOther obj eats and advantages 'o if 1 in;- w proved' construetion will becomeap pa'rent 11"; ijeinxiss, mar FREEPFV am; I LIgINoIs e srtn' mcx, 7 J

i n iiiii ca'tibi 'fi a m is, 1929. Serial no; 362,458. f v

My'inve'ntion relates to'display stands of the type employed for displaying merchandise in retail stores and is particularlyadapb 'ed'todisplay' merchandise of smallsize, such as groceries, vegetables; and fruit instore windows; In order to utilize the space 'of disp lay win- "dows to the best advantage it"has become customary for grocers, fruit dealers and the like, who deal in merchandisesmall of size, to construct a false floor or' 'stand having sloping'sides behind the Window whereby the display 'is raised from thenormal floorlevel W and the merchandise 'placed' alongthe 'in "clined sides to'pres'ent 'it morefull to the view of prospeotive purchasers. f "These "stands have been permanent or semi-permanent in character and fhave been constructed separately for the particular windowf'i'n 72b which they are used. ';Alterations may be made in suoh a; structure only withfdifficult'y.

It is, however, oftendesirableiand advan; 'tageousto change the lengthorslope Oft'hese stands to-betteraccomm'odateparticular mer One of the obj eots, therefore; inven.

tion' isfthe 'provisio'n ofafl display standv adapted to-be altered in'lerigtl'r' and in which the slope limits,

of; the "face {may be vari d within also aimed tofprovidea structu e invention is "Another object is theprovis'ilon of a' sectionalfstajnd ad'aptedto" be varied in size to 1acc'ommodate' different quantities of display materials. W

I have also aimed toprovidea structure-of 1 the character I described which; is economical p {from'the following description-and"the aca I companying drawi gsin whichm i Figurel'is a perspective, of the stand partly 7 assembled; 7

.-1 Fig. 2 is ase'ction on theline 22 of Fig. 1.; Fig. 3 isan endview ofthe rack showing the bottom flange in place,- and Y Fig. 4 is a section 'on'the linei44 of Fig. '1, showing the slide construction. Y

. The invention includes generally an adjustable frame or rack capable of being raised at one edge to various elevations, facememi 0 bersadapted to be positioneduponthe frame,

n she f members. 7

members arranged upon the-face Referring tothe drawings, the frame-includes'fyend members -'6 and-side members -7.

The end membersfi consist of asingle piece slottedontheir; upper :sides' 'at 8 and 9 to pro I yidea mortised'joint with theside members? and attached; to bases '10 at their lower ends; by means ofhing-es 11. Bottom flanges v and 13' are' attached to the *lo'werends .ofzthe ind'pieces 6.by means of bolts or dowel pins The-side members 7;.each consistofgtwo parts, a grooved part 15and a tongued; part 16; as shown more fully .in Fig. 4.," The tongned part l6'maypreferably'be made of metal of iU-shaped.jcrosse'section and have the edges turned in to form tongues 17 oooperable with grooves .18 ofthe grooved ,part 15' to form a slidable connection; At their free ends each of'these parts are mortised'into one of the cross pieces 6 at points 8 and 9 whereby a rectangular frame 'is formed'.j I have found, "it convenient to remove complementary portions ofthe'material of each member to form a reinovable mortised. joint whi'ch is cheaply made yet permits the members to; be easily "set up or takendown by vmerely'liftingV 90 onejm'emberoutof the other.

{The frame thus provided is'arrangedtobe swung on the hingesfll about a 'horizontal axis to provide different degrees of angue la rity. with respect tothe base 10;. Supportiing arms 19 are pivot'ally connected, to" the underside of the cross membersG by means of V hinges "20'. the lower "ends of the supporting arms being adapted to "be'lpositionedj in any one of afs'eriesjof recesses 2lin=each off'the' bases to support the*framein thedesired degree of angularity with respect thereto. Because of the slidable connection between parts and 16 the frame is also adjustable as to length, the frame being shortest when the inner ends of the bottom flanges 12 and 13 are in contact and longest when the parts 15 and 16'are extended upon each other to the greatest practical extent. I

Two types of facing members areuem ployed, those of thetypeindicated in the drawings by the numerals 22, 23, and 24,

sist of wood or metal slabs of convenient width and thickness long enough to extend across the frame and permit a portion toproject over the sidemembers thereof. The facingmembers of the" type'indicat-ed by are extra members adapted to be insert-ed 'atthe centerwhen the frameis extended and are similar to the others except-for avertical portion 26equal inheight and thickness to bottom flanges 12and 1'8 des"igned to act as an extension thereof, Each of the facing members are provided with brackets 27*at tached to the rear side thereofne'ar thebottom end in a position to engage'th'e-upper edge ofthe lower side'member"? whereby the facingjmember is, by its weight, positioned upon theframe. OpeningsQS are provided in each of the facingmembers,suitably positioned to cooperate'with tongues 29' attached to shelves 3O or' trays in supporting said shelves at a plurality of positions. a

V .The shelves, which may be "in the form of trays as at 31, boxes, or baskets have a tongue or tongues 29 attached to their, bottom and projecting outward therefrom, th'e' ou'ter ends ofjthei tonguesbeing bent downwardasshown at'32 whereby the angularity of the shelves with respect to the facing members be altered.by altering the distance the tongues, are inserted intothe'openings'28.

If Ai shelf .be provided at the upper endofthe facing members'extending backward therefrom if desired by attaching brackets 33 to therear of said facing members near the upper end. Tongues 34 attached to the shelf and having their outer ends bentdownward may be inserted behind said brackets tosupport the shelf thereon.

The advantages of my improved construction will'be readily apparent to those skilled zinthe art. Affruit dealeropeninga store "will no longerfbe required to call in a. can

' ypenter or tinsmith toinst-all adispilay stand for. his window or'store for my construction may beinstalled thereinbecause of its ad- 'justabilit x The degree of fangul'arity, of

the shelves-with respect to the facing members placed on-the frame maybevaried, and

the length of; thestand itself may be varied.

' The shelves; maybe :moycdfrom positionto position without disturbing the arrangement made from any suitable .material such as metal or wood or combinationsof the two and may be very readily put upor taken downby any person of normal intelligence, whereby the stand may be easilymoved or stored for subsequent use without damaging the structure as occurs whenthe parts are permanently fastened together as by nails.

While I have thus described and illustrated a particular embodiment of myinvention, I am aware thatnumerous changes maybe made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the inventionyorthe vscope of theappended claims, in which-fj f Iclaim: if M 7. 1. Adisplay stand comprising a frame having base members, a rack-comprising cross members, and extensible side member-sconnect-in'gthe ends of said cross members, and

means for supporting-the latter-at different degrees ofangularity with respect to the former, facing members having openings therein arranged to be positioned; upon said frame to form a continuousfsurface over said plays, each havingat least" one tongue attached thereto adapted to be inserted in any of saidopenings, said tongues beingshaped to'su'pport saidshelves upon the facingmembars at; any one of a plurality of angles, dependent -upon the angularity- :of said: rack with respect to said base members,,to.sup-

port said shelves vin a ho-rizontal position:

2. .A display stand comprising aframe having base members, 2 a rack" comprising cross 7 members, and extensible-side membersconnecting the ends of said cross members, and; meansifor supporting thelatter' at difl'erent degrees a of angularity with respect to 1 the former, facing members having openings therein arranged toibe positioned upon said frame to form a continuous surfaceiover said frame,-b0ttom flanges positioned at the lower end of said facingfm'embersto form a supporting projection for material to be displayed,'shelves arranged to bepositioned one above another on the inclined face, of said facing members to permit horizontal rows of vertical disposed displays, each havinguat least one tongue attached thereto adaptedto "The insertedjn -fany. of said openings; said ftonguesbeingfshaped to support said shelves upon the facing members at anyone of a plu rality' of angles,- -dependent uponthe langularityvof saidracklwithirespect to ,said: base i I 7 members, to. support saidshelves in a hori zontal position",-bracketsattached to the rear of said facing members, neat the upperends,

and at least one shelf having at leastone tongue attachedthereto adapted to engage said bracket for supporting said lastnamed r shelf behind the'facing members.

In witness of the foregoing I afiix my signature. 7 WILLIAM L. CALKINS, J3. 

